From July 27 to August 5 Eugeniy Bashkirtsev and Denis Veretenin, from Irkutsk in Siberia, made the second ascent of the Odessa route (1,700m, 6A/6B, A4, Cheban-Lavrinenko-Mogila-Tsushko, 2006) on the right side of the north face of Rocky Ak-su...
On August 23 our team reached base camp at 4,400m below Eagle Rock, the south summit of Potala Shan (a.k.a. Putala Peak). Eagle Rock lies above the valley of Shuangqiao, and was believed to have been climbed only once, by a three-man Swiss team, v...
Eagle Rock (ca 5,300m), southwest face, Invisible Hand and Invisible Hand Sit Start; Peak 5,180m, west face, Speed Indeed. Although from Rio de Janeiro, I've been living in China for the last six years, doing my best to develop various aspects of ...
On September 15 a multi-national expedition completed the first ascent of Dayantianwo, above the Shuangqiao Valley. This granite pyramid lies south-southeast of Baihaizi Lake and is the first summit southwest of Peak 5,180m. Chaohui Zheng of China...
The Daogou peaks (East, 5,466m; West, 5,422m) are steep, rocky mountains, the eastern flanks of which are accessed from the upper Changping Valley. The name comes from their location. Head north and then northwest into the upper Changping, then tu...
South of Potala Shan, above the Shuangqiao Valley, the Central Tower lies between Eagle Rock (ca 5,300m) to the west and Warglesei (ca 5,300m) to the east. As these three peaks form a cirque around the head of a hanging valley containing Baihaizi ...
In July 2012, Dylan Johnson and I made a brief stop at Rogers Pass to climb the classic Northwest Arête of Mt. Sir Donald (3,284m). Although this is a relatively easy route, I was blown away by the quality climbing on this impressive peak, and kne...
From April 27 to May 3, Alexander Gukov and Alexey Lonchinskiy from St. Petersburg, Russia, made the coveted first ascent of the southwest face of Thamserku (6,618m).Despite being an obvious target, within easy distance of Monjo (much of the south...
The Choongbuk Alpine Federation Rescue Team, led by Park Yeonsoo, consisted of 10 members. They split into two groups and from August 27 to October 8 attempted the west- northwest ridge and north face of Hiunchuli in the Annapurna Sanctuary. Avala...
In May, Giuseppe “Beppe” Torre, Rudy Salinas (both Mexico), Rodrigo Fica (Chile), Jesus Ibarz, and I (both Catalan) opened a new route on El Gigante in Mexico. We spent 10 days on the wall, first fixing lines from the ground, then climbing capsule...
Between May 25 and June 14, Erik Bonnett and I climbed about 45 pitches of rock, ice, and snow in a relatively unknown glacial area on the border of southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia, bearing similarities to the Kichatna Spires. We th...
I believe many alpinists suffer from an obsession or two. I am certainly no exception: My interest with Mt. Thielsen began in 1990 when I procured a copy of Jeff Thomas’ guide to the Oregon Cascades. An entry about the McLaughlin Memorial (Bauman-...
From July 16–24, Steve Richert, Blake McCord, and I—all Type 1 diabetics—spent time in the Titcomb Basin of the Wind River Range, hoping to establish first ascents and first free ascents. We packed in with horses to Island Lake, then shuttled load...
In July 2014, Ben Rosenberg and I traveled to the Little Sandy Valley with no fixed plans other than to do some exploring. In part due to laziness and in part due to the attractiveness of walls low in the valley, we did not make it very far.We fir...
I can’t remember the first time I went climbing, but I do remember growing up outdoors. Long walks to Sundance Buttress and sinking my little feet in the sand around Gem Lake at Lumpy Ridge. Following my dad up Stettner’s Ledges and the Diam...
In July, Gregg Beisly, Max Jimenez Llusco—a member of Gregg’s leadership program—and I climbed a possible new variation on Pomerape (a.k.a. Pomerata, 6,282m) in the Cordillera Occidental. Starting from the village of Sajama (four hours’ drive sout...
On December 3, I (Ryan, 31) went to Arch Rock to rope-solo fixed routes. I had heard there was a rope on Supplication (5.10c), and I had wanted to get on that route for more than a year. (Note: Fixed-rope soling is free climbing while belayed by a...
From April 25–27, Glen Melin, Jon Tylka, and I made the first recorded traverse of the Organ Mountains skyline, climbing from south to north. The Organ Mountains form the rugged barrier between the Tularosa Basin and the Mesilla Valley in southern...
On April 27, Yuri Kilichenko, Makcym Perevalov, Petro Pobebeghnyi, and Yuri Vasenkov from Ukraine completed a new route on the ca 900m east face of Lobuche (Lobuje or Lubuje) East. Incorrectly marked as Abi on the official HMG-Finn map of the Khum...
Janahut (6,805m) had been attempted by five previous teams. In June we (Malcolm Bass and Simon Yearsley) became the sixth—and the sixth team to fail. Our original goal had been the southwest face of Rimo III, which we had attempted in 2012 (AAJ 20...